Spiders vs Wasps

[Jimmy]

A large spider has taken up residence on my bedroom window.
I have named him Boris, but suspect he is probably a she !
Anyway, the web is on the outside of the window and through the night he sits bang in the middle on guard. In the day he sits at the edge of the window.

On Saturday I went for Siesta around midday. As I lay there looking out the window a wasp blundered into the web. Boris shot out and stopped short as if startled, weighed up the situation and pounced. Eventually after sinking his fangs into it he bundled it up in silk for later. I noticed in the evening he was enjoying his snack.

Question
1) Anyone else seen a Spider dispatch a Wasp ?
2) Can the wasp kill a spider.
3) How do spiders know they are dangerous, Boris obviously did.

Jimmy

[Aberdeenplotter]

I've seen a small spider truss up a large wasp after it got stuck on the spiders web. The process was quick and clinical. As for knowing how a wasp is dangerous, the wasp has the universal danger colouring of black and yellow

[Mikey]

Do spiders see colour then AP?

I would have thought as spiders work on vibration and touch more than sight, as mosts eye sight isn;t that great, the spider might have been apprehensive due to the amount of movement the wasp was making rather than the fact it was a wasp.

[Jimmy]

A quick search for "spiders eyes" ont-tinternet
Show they have an amazing set of peepers.
So I guess they could see things OK.
Jimmy

[Inastate]

I garnered a new found respect for spiders recently.

I was at my girlfriends aunt's in the New Forest and their was a spider with a light cobweb in the corner of the room. I noticed the spider bundle towards a fly, quickly spin it up with silk and carry it off to a holding area out the way.

I then counted 10 small flies in the room and proceeded to watch as the spider systematically took out every single one of them.

The flies would just kind of bumble around absent mindedly and occasionally amble off towards the spider. The spider would begin to respond and within a fraction of time weigh up whether or not the flies position/course was a viable option, then either attack, or retreat.

Within 20 minutes it had taken out every single fly and I just sat their watching, intently, in complete awe.

It made me realise that it seems that different sized animals have different perspectives, allowing them to operate in completely different time frames. The Small flies were slow and oblivious, while the spider was lightening quick & focused. And there was I, a human in a bedroom in a house, just watching it all unfold, in a totally different world to them; as the spider was to the flies.

A few days later I heard the same concept alluded to in the animation film 'Epic, and a few weeks later a scientific journal was published expressing the idea.

Summary article & journal source:

Insects View the World in Bullet Time | The Escapist

Certainly raises interesting ideas about different perceptions/dimensions of existence, IMO.

[Mikey]

Have you seen the film Epic?

Its premise is about a group of fairies which flit about at a speed far in excess of our own, so we look like bumbling, slow talking, giant idiots to them.

That's probably how the fly and the spider see us.

[Mysterious Gardener]

If only they hadn't stopped making Monster Bug Wars - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Don't believe they filmed spider vs wasp.

[mothhawk]

I've seen a wasp try to steal a wrapped up fly from a spider's web. It had several goes at clasping the fly with its feet and trying to fly off with it, but the web was too strong and bounced the fly out of its grip. it gave up eventually and went back to caterpillar hunting.

[Martin H]

I've always admired spiders. They seem so intelligent. For example...

If you put an insect in a jar, it will buzz around bashing its head against the glass (if it flies) or keep trying and failing to climb the sides, until exhausted.

If you put a spider in a jar, it will try to climb the sides for a bit, work out there's no escape and then make a web in case any other insects find their way into the jar. Then it will sit and await developments.

I know the spider has very little brain and is just following instinct, but I just can't help anthropomorphise.

[Nicos]

Do spiders see colour then

A little light reading for you Mikey!!!

http://www.americanarachnology.org/J...A_v17_p195.pdf

[Aberdeenplotter]

I took a brief look at that and concluded .............................whooooosh ------clean over my head

[Mikey]

A little light reading for you Mikey!!!

http://www.americanarachnology.org/J...A_v17_p195.pdf

I made it to about line 3 and lost the will.......

As you've read it Nicos do you think you could summarise their findings?

[Nicos]

I made it to about line 3 and lost the will.......

As you've read it Nicos do you think you could summarise their findings?

Basically yes, they can see colour!

(...mainly violets and greens)

[Two_Sheds]

I have a small spider web on my right wing mirror. Today, she decided to jump in the car while the window was open, making me jump too.

She's now back outside on the mirror. I reckon she catches a lot of insects, for minimal effort, as we drive up and down the A12